Inability to pay staff halts Burr Oak cemetery clean-up

Efforts to clean up scandal-hit Burr Oak Cemetery have come to a halt because there is no money to pay staff.

The cemetery near Alsip has been closed to the public since July 13, shortly after allegations of a massive scheme to dig up as many as 300 bodies and resell burial plots emerged.

Roman Szabelski, the Catholic Cemeteries executive director who was appointed by a judge to take over day-to-day operation of the cemetery from previous owners, Perpetua Holdings of Illinois Inc., initially said he hoped to reopen by Aug 1.

But Szabelski now says he had to lay off eight remaining workers because money he requested from a judge hasn't been released.

In a statement released by his office, Szabelski said, "Everyone involved is working hard to free up funds so that the Burr Oak employees can be paid the wages that are due to them and recalled to work as soon as possible.

"Our goal remains to reopen the cemetery as soon as we can to ensure that families will be able to locate their loved ones and safely visit their grave sites."

Szabelski couldn't be reached for comment. A hearing at which funds could be freed up is set for Monday.

Also Friday, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes added fresh allegations to a complaint filed against Perpetua in Circuit Court. Perpetua officials broke the law when they falsified an application for a cemetery license by inaccurately reporting the business' name in 2001, and again when they failed to provide documents the comptroller demanded once details of the scandal emerged this summer, according to the complaint.

At least $111,000 and as much as $278,000 was stolen by cemetery workers accused of carrying out the scam, according to documents Perpetua handed over, the complaint states.

It includes new details in the case, including the date, April 23, when Perpetua president Melvin Bryant met with an auditor from the comptroller's office, informing him that he had fired cemetery manager Carolyn Towns for alleged theft. Bryant told the auditor more than $100,000 was believed missing from cash transactions at Burr Oak and "potentially a lesser amount at Cedar Park Cemetery," a Calumet Park site Perpetua owns, according to the complaint. Towns has since been charged with desecrating human remains.